FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $43.05, but opened at $40.81. FirstEnergy shares last traded at $39.78, with a volume of 3,277,171 shares traded.

The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 109.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after acquiring an additional 329,049 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after acquiring an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133,083 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 8.1 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The company has a market cap of $22.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.